summer-2003-Part 2-live - Nieman Foundation - Harvard University

Nieman Notesfrom Time magazine in 2001 but continuedworking in London as ‘contributingeditor,’ a title that remains on themasthead, although I am doing ratherlittle lately. I also divorced in 2001 andhave since remarried—to an old frienddating from second grade in Santa Fe,New Mexico, where we now live. I’m atwork on a history of the local newspaper,The Santa Fe New Mexican, whichfirst appeared in 1849 and claims to bethe oldest continuing newspaper inthe West. Perhaps it is.”—1976—Janos Horvat brings us up to dateon his work: “I am still in the TV businessas president of a cable platform(so far we have launched a premiumsports channel and now we are preparinga comedy channel). I still have a‘Children in Need’-type telethon showon Hungarian TV and teach journalismat Hungarian universities. Far from theUnited States, I’m right in the middleof the European Union and a memberof the preparatory committee trying tocreate a new modern media-law forHungary.“I have two daughters and no grandchildren—yet.”—1978—Alice Bonner, for a biography of1966 Nieman Fellow Bob Maynard,would like to hear from any and all ofhis classmates, friends and acquaintances.Maynard, who died in 1993, wasthe leading champion of diversity inAmerican newsrooms, who rose fromteen reporter on black weeklies toWashington Post correspondent andhistory-making owner/publisher of TheOakland Tribune.Bonner can be reached by e-mail:alicebonner1@aol.com or by regularmail: 1111 La Grande Road, SilverSpring, Maryland 20903.—1979—Nancy Day has been appointed chairof the Journalism Department at ColumbiaCollege in Chicago, the nation’slargest private arts and communicationcollege founded with a social justicemission, with open admissions tothis day. She starts her new job September1, 2003, after a 22-year career atBoston University, where most recentlyshe was director of Advanced JournalismStudies. Day also won a FulbrightFellowship for summer 2003. She willteach at Moscow State University in theRussian Federation, which is inauguratinga special Summer Institute forjournalism studies.Day continues to write on a freelancebasis, most recently for Women’seNews, Nieman Reports, and Peoplemagazine. On a personal note, Nancy’sdaughter Allison Waggener graduatedfrom Yale University on May 26.Bob Porterfield is now a projectconsultant for The Associated Press’sSan Francisco bureau. He writes: “Since1996 Marcia [Porterfield’s wife] and Ihave been spending a lot of time overseastraining journalists in Central Europe,Africa and most recently (January)in Russia. We’ve done a lot of thisthrough a nonprofit foundation wecofounded in 1997, the World FreePress Institute, which is concentratingprimarily on East Africa. Our last visitwas a seminar we conducted in Nairobilast summer. Believe me, there’s a lotof work to be done in encouragingpress freedom and fact-based reportingin emerging democracies. That isparticularly true in Africa and the RussianFederation. I’m hoping we’ll getsome additional grant money in forexpanded African training activities.”The World Free Press Institute’s Webaddress is: www.pressfreedom.org.—1990—Mary Jordan and husband KevinSullivan, foreign correspondents forThe Washington Post who jointly runthe Post’s Mexico bureau, received thePulitzer Prize for international reportingon Mexico’s criminal justice system.The Pulitzer citation praised themfor their “exposure of horrific conditionsin Mexico’s criminal justice systemand how they affect the daily livesof people.”Jordan writes, “Shortly after we arrivedin Mexico in June 2000, it becameobvious to us that the broken criminaljustice system was the most importantissue facing this country. Almost everythingin Mexico comes back to thisproblem: Corruption and unequal justicehinder the fight against poverty;economic growth is slowed becauseinvestors are scared off by an arbitrarylegal system.“The justice system is a daily tormentfor average Mexicans who seewealthy offenders walk free while poorcriminals can be locked up for monthsor years for stealing as little as a loaf ofbread.“Kevin and I wrote a series of articlesabout victims of police torture, ofkidnappings, and of a system that regardsrape as a minor offense. We wroteabout how children suffer in a juvenilejustice system that gives them even lesslegal protection than the one for adults.And we wrote about how people inremote rural areas often take justiceinto their own hands––which in onesmall village we visited meant buryinga murderer alive with his victim.“Mexico is a great country. Its peopledeserve a better justice system. That iswhy we [have] tried to shed even thefaintest light on the unfairness of thesystem.”Jordan and Sullivan were also cobureauchiefs for the Post in Tokyofrom 1995-1999. The have two children,Kate, 8, and Tom, 6, who wasborn in Japan.—1996—Laura Eggertson, after three yearsof covering daily parliamentary politicsin Ottawa, left The Toronto Starand started her own business as afreelance journalist, editor andspeechwriter. Eggertson is now a frequentcontributor to Homemaker’s, anational Canadian women’s magazine,to Ottawa City, to Time Canada, and toa variety of science and municipal publications.She writes: “I enjoy the flexibilitythat comes with being self-employed,as well as the freedom to pursuemy own projects (while still taking onenough government work to subsidizethe magazine articles!). Running myNieman Reports / Summer 2003 121